Russian stock exchange drops on oil price slide

Russia's stock exchange dropped on Tuesday and the ruble fell on the back of the latest slide in oil prices.

The dollar-denominated RTS index fell by some 3.55 percent in early trading before recovering slightly, while Russia's battered ruble fell to around 82 against the dollar after gaining ground slightly since hitting a record low to the greenback last week.

Russia -- whose energy-reliant economy has already been pushed into recession by low oil prices and Western sanctions over Ukraine -- has been rocked by the fresh fall in oil prices and officials have come under increasing pressure to react.

The country's gross domestic product (GDP) fell 3.7 percent last year, the state statistics agency said on Monday.

Russia's central bank chief Elvia Nabiullina said last week that authorities have "all the means" necessary to ward off instability.

President Vladimir Putin has said that the country had calculated its 2016 budget based on an oil price of $50 per barrel, a figure he said was an "optimistic" assessment of the situation.

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said earlier this month that the budget would have to be adjusted to "new realities."

The government recently announced that it was preparing an anti-crisis plan to support sectors of the economy affected by the crisis.